Napa Valley winery reviews, tasting notes, recommendations, and photos, now also included in Google's Field Trip application. Periodic reviews of interesting wines from around the world. Occasional musings about classical music as related to wine. Bach to Bacchus is partners with Google Field Trip.

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Sawyer Cellars

(Note: Sawyer Cellars is now known as Foley Johnson Winery.) With very good wine and friendly staff, Sawyer Cellars is a family winery that produces small amounts of premium wine. It is located along Highway 29 in Rutherford and is part of the land where George Yount
planted grapes over 160 years ago. The
property was replanted in 1984 and purchased by the Sawyer family in 1994. The
vineyard extends back to the Napa River
and is planted mostly with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, although they also
grow some Petit Verdot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Sauvignon Blanc. Total production is only 6,400 cases, and all
of their wines are estate grown and bottled.
They sell off about 40% of the grapes they grow. A tasting is $10. The tour and tasting is $25. Reservations are required but easily
made. Our host, Candace, was very friendly and
informative.

Our tasting began with the 2010 Estate Sauvignon Blanc
($32). It had a pleasant aroma with a
dry, well-balanced, refreshing presentation and a nice finish. This was followed by the 2007 Estate
Merlot ($39) that began with a very pronounced and pleasant cherry nose with bright
cherry on the palate. This is bigger and
more interesting than mamu Merlots. Only
625 cases were produced. Next was the
2007Bradford Meritage ($46). This is 58% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Merlot,
5% Petit Verdot and 2% Cabernet Franc.
It is aged for 24 months on French oak.
I got a light nose with mostly blackberry on the palate and a little
spice on the finish. It was quite
nice.

Our favorite of the current
release wines was theSawyer 2007 Cabernet
Sauvignon ($49) that is 100% Cab and spent 24 months in French oak. It had a nice nose of black cherry with a touch
of cinnamon followed by a smooth, layered, cherry-like palate that was well balanced, somewhat chewy, with good,
integrated tannins. The Wine
Enthusiast gave this 92 points. It was
very good and extremely drinkable, although it was even better with some air. We purchased several bottles. We also sampled some Sawyer2004 Estate Library
Reserve that sells for $110. This was a
big wine with a lot of complexity and bold but balanced tannins. I liked it better than my friend did, but it
probably would have opened up better with more air. We enjoyed all the wines that we sampled and
enthusiastically recommend a visit to Sawyer Cellars.

Addendum 9/19/2012: I have since tasted two bottles of the 07 Cab. It does need some air, but is a very solid Cab and well worth trying.

2 comments:

Sawyer Cellars is now Foley Johnson Winery. Perhaps they decided to wholesale off the wines under the old label. But your clearance price is amazingly low. I wish I could locate a bargain like that. Thanks.